Refinancing a 30-year fixed home loan to a 15-year loan can help homeowners own their home outright sooner, but it can also lead to an advantage they may enjoy just as much: saving thousands of dollars. If you can afford the extra monthly mortgage payments, switching to a 15-year loan can be a good choice.
Refinancing from a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage into a 15-year fixed loan can help you pay down your loan sooner and save lots of dollars otherwise spent on interest. You'll own your home outright and be free of mortgage debt much sooner than normal. Plus, mortgages with shorter terms often charge lower interest rates.
The biggest benefit is that instead of making a mortgage payment every month for 30 years, you'll have the full amount paid off and be done in half the time. Plus, because you're paying down your mortgage more rapidly, a 15-year mortgage builds equity quicker.
In this scenario, an extra principal payment of $100 per month can shorten your mortgage term by nearly 5 years, saving over $25,000 in interest payments. If you're able to make $200 in extra principal payments each month, you could shorten your mortgage term by eight years and save over $43,000 in interest.
Making additional principal payments will shorten the length of your mortgage term and allow you to build equity faster. Because your balance is being paid down faster, you'll have fewer total payments to make, in-turn leading to more savings.
The main drawback to a 15-year mortgage is that monthly payments are much higher since you have to pay off the same amount in half the time. As a result, many homeowners simply can't swing the monthly payments. It's up to you and your loan officer to compare the costs — and potential savings — of a 15 vs.
Okay, you probably already know that every dollar you add to your mortgage payment puts a bigger dent in your principal balance. And that means if you add just one extra payment per year, you'll knock years off the term of your mortgage—not to mention interest savings!
Paying off your mortgage early is a good way to free up monthly cashflow and pay less in interest. But you'll lose your mortgage interest tax deduction, and you'd probably earn more by investing instead. Before making your decision, consider how you would use the extra money each month.
If you can afford the extra monthly mortgage payments, switching to a 15-year loan can be a good choice. The shorter loan usually has a lower interest rate that will result in less interest being paid over the life of the loan, though the monthly payments will be higher than they were for a 30-year loan.
A 15-year mortgage costs less in the long run since the total interest payments are less than a 30-year mortgage. The cost of a mortgage is calculated based on an annual interest rate, and since you're borrowing the money for half as long, the total interest paid will likely be half of what you'd pay over 30 years.
The amount saved will vary based on the initial size of the loan and interest rate. Simply by making an additional payment over the life of a 15-year mortgage for $300,000 dollars at an interest rate of 5%, amounts to an eventual savings of up to 200 dollars monthly.
Borrowers with a 15-year term pay more per month than those with a 30-year term. In return, they receive a lower interest rate, pay their mortgage debt in half the time and can save tens of thousands of dollars over the life of their mortgage.
Throwing in an extra $500 or $1,000 every month won't necessarily help you pay off your mortgage more quickly. Unless you specify that the additional money you're paying is meant to be applied to your principal balance, the lender may use it to pay down interest for the next scheduled payment.
Is It Harder to Qualify for a 15-Year Mortgage Loan? If you have a higher income that proves you can afford the higher payments associated with a short term mortgage loan, then it's easy to qualify. You may also find interest rates that are between . 5 and 1% lower than they are for a 30-year mortgage.
Because less than 10 percent of homeowners have 15-year mortgages, Bechtel says it's not an option for everyone, mainly because of the higher payments.
The interest paid on a 20 year loan would be $63,440, and the interest paid on a 15 year loan would be $41,365. A 20 year loan saves $48,271 in interest, while the 15 year loan saves $70,346. This shows that a 20 year loan saves 68.6% of the interest amount that a 15 year mortgage does!
Generally, national banks will allow you to pay additional funds towards the principal balance of your loan. However, you should review your loan agreement or contact your bank to find out their specific process for doing so.
Regardless of the amount of funds applied towards the principal, paying extra installments towards your loan makes an enormous difference in the amount of interest paid over the life of the loan. Additionally, the term of the mortgage can be drastically reduced by making extra payments or a lump sum.
Adding Extra Each Month
Just paying an additional $100 per month towards the principal of the mortgage reduces the number of months of the payments. A 30 year mortgage (360 months) can be reduced to about 24 years (279 months) – this represents a savings of 6 years!